The visual arts, like multicultural education, play a vital role in our understanding of diverse human experiences. In this article we explore the role of community-based contemporary art in education. We consider the ways that art practices speak to issues of history and culture as a site of investigation and a method of investigation in pedagogical practices. Two different approaches to community-based contemporary art forms are described and their possibilities for use in education are discussed. (Contains 3 online resources and 4 footnotes.)